Before making the decision that blocked the renaming of the UOC-MP to the Russian Orthodox Church, the chairman of the District Administrative Court of Kyiv, Pavlo Vovk, visited the head of the UOC-MP, Metropolitan Onufriy.
This is stated in the article “Consultation room” of the project “Slidstvo.Info", according to Religious Truth.
According to journalists, they had almost two thousand secret conversations with the District Administrative Court of Kyiv. The records were kept in the office of the court chairman, Pavlo Vovk. Wiretapping was set up there by detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau in the spring of 2019.
As noted by the journalists of " Slidstvo.info", in mid-April 2019, the judges of the DACK returned to Kyiv after visiting the Holy Mount Athos. One of them shared his unpleasant impressions of the trip with Pavlo Vovk. He said that all Greeks and even Russians living on Mount Athos were in favor of granting the Tomos to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. For this particular reason, one of the judges almost quarreled with the guide.
At the end of 2018, the Verkhovna Rada ordered the UOC-MP to rename itself and indicate in the name belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church. It was done so that parishioners of churches know that this organization is connected with the aggressor country. The representatives of the pro-Russian Church then declared persecution and went to court, namely, to the District Administrative Court of Kyiv. The court made a ruling in their favor.
“We need to make an appointment with Onufriy to get his blessing. Once we have done a good deed,” says Pavlo Vovk, chairman of the DACK, in the recordings of conversations.
According to the records, Onufriy agreed to receive the judges. But this was not their first meeting.
“We were brought to Onufriy previously. He even treated us to some sandwiches and a shot. A pleasant person indeed," Pavlo Vovk recalls in the conversation.
Thanks to the District Administrative Court of Kyiv, the UOC-MP has not yet changed its name, as required by law. It was for this reason that Judge Vovk went to receive a blessing from Onufriy.